Somewhere in the late 80's or early 90's a conglomerate purchased the papers from the owners..ABC/Captiol Cities.
Overnight those 16 pages of local content for each of those towns became 12 pages of "common content" and 4 pages of local content. Really hard to fit in stories of little Johnies no-hitter...or Mary Lou's piano recital in 4 pages. Destroyed was the sense of community those papers had provided. But he conglomerate minimized content cost...don't bother with the debate about stops signs...surely a mayor or councilmen is sleeping someplace he shouldn't be...and surely someones brother-in-law had a contract doing some sort of work for the town.

I find it sad...that those who so rightously rail against "corporations" don't rail against that tny handful of corporations that tell us what is most important of all..."what to think".

Those who work for what is now referred to as the "Main Stream Media" wouldn't know what journalism was if their life depended on it. They produce something called "content". The purpose of which is to fill the spaces between "revenue'. There are entire industries set up to "manage" the new cycle. One needs to pay in order to note the passing in an obituary of a doctor who served the community. Forget about Mary Lou's piano recital being "news". Who fathered the child of some woman who lived fast and loose rich woman halfway across the world dominates the news. It is cheap to produce..cheap to report...the "Corporations" that control what we think like if that way.

Anyone who is looking for something call "journalism" in the Washington Post or New York Times or CNN or Fox News or ABC or CBS news will be sorely disappointed. They will find nothing but "content".

There is however hope...something new...called "blogging" has happened. I spent the weekend with patriots who blog. People who have a sense of history and what "journalism" should be about.

We write journals. My mother calls us "pamphleteers"...just as folks life Jefferson and Franklin were once "Pamphleteers"...they put their thoughts on paper...people who would dare to disagree with the King of Englalnd...who would create something like a constitution and bill of rights.

I spent a weekend with ordinary people who have lived extrodinary lives at something called a "Milblogs Conference"...it was an extraordinarily humbling experience. They are the "new" journalists in the spirit of Jefferson and Franklin.